Feng Zhenghu
Encyclopedia
Feng Zhenghu is a Chinese economist and scholar based in Shanghai. Citing Amnesty International
, The Guardian
said that Feng was "a prominent human rights defender" in China. In 2001 he was sent to prison for three years ostensibly for "illegal business activity". He was released in 2004, has since written critical pieces highlighting alleged malpractice by local governments and forced evictions.
Outside China, Feng is best known for having been refused re-entry into China eight times in 2009. He protested and remained in the immigration hall of Narita International Airport
for 92 days, attracted concern from Asian activists, and received worldwide media attention.
, Zhejiang
. He started his business in 1980s and later founded the Institute of China Business Development. He lives in Shanghai; he has a sister, who lives in Japan with her Japanese husband.
and the People's Liberation Army
for suppressing the democratization of the Chinese society. He later went to study in Japan and returned to China, and was imprisoned in 2001 for "illegal business activities".
). He has been likened to the Tom Hanks
character in Steven Spielberg
's 2004 film The Terminal
. From 3 Dec. 2009, the airport authorities issued daily notices to Mr. Feng, requesting him to leave the arrival zone and be admitted into Japan. Finally, after several visits by Chinese diplomats from Tokyo, Feng announced on 2 February 2010 that he was going to enter Japan on the next day in anticipation of being allowed to return to Shanghai by mid February.
On 8 February 2010, Feng publicly announced his plan to return to Shanghai. On 12 February 2010, two days ahead of Chinese New Year
, he successfully entered China after arriving on a flight from Narita to Shanghai. Afterwards, he stayed in his Shanghai apartment under guarded house arrest.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
said that Feng was "a prominent human rights defender" in China. In 2001 he was sent to prison for three years ostensibly for "illegal business activity". He was released in 2004, has since written critical pieces highlighting alleged malpractice by local governments and forced evictions.
Outside China, Feng is best known for having been refused re-entry into China eight times in 2009. He protested and remained in the immigration hall of Narita International Airport
Narita International Airport
is an international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is located east of Tokyo Station and east-southeast of Narita Station in the city of Narita, and the adjacent town of Shibayama....
for 92 days, attracted concern from Asian activists, and received worldwide media attention.
Biography
Feng was born in WenzhouWenzhou
Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....
, Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
. He started his business in 1980s and later founded the Institute of China Business Development. He lives in Shanghai; he has a sister, who lives in Japan with her Japanese husband.
Imprisonment
He criticized the Chinese governmentGovernment of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
and the People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
for suppressing the democratization of the Chinese society. He later went to study in Japan and returned to China, and was imprisoned in 2001 for "illegal business activities".
Refused entry to PRC
In early 2009, Feng was inexplicably detained for 41 days; he left China for medical treatment in Japan soon afterwards — in April 2009. On attempting to return home in June, he was refused entry by the authorities. According to Feng's sister, airlines prevented him from boarding a China-bound flight four times; on the four occasions he succeeded in boarding a plane, Chinese authorities at Shanghai turned him away. A Japanese immigration official said Feng arrived from Shanghai on 4 November with a valid Chinese passport and a visa to enter Japan – but has refused to be admitted. He is spending his time on a couch near an immigration checkpoint in the south wing of Terminal 1 of Narita Airport, subsisting on snacks given to him by travellers and activists (including Hong Kong activist Christina ChanChristina Chan
Christina Chan is a political activist in Hong Kong, known for her stand on human rights, democracy and Tibetan independence. She is enrolled in a master's degree in philosophy in the University of Hong Kong.-Early life:...
). He has been likened to the Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
character in Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's 2004 film The Terminal
The Terminal
The Terminal is a 2004 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It is about a man trapped in a terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time cannot...
. From 3 Dec. 2009, the airport authorities issued daily notices to Mr. Feng, requesting him to leave the arrival zone and be admitted into Japan. Finally, after several visits by Chinese diplomats from Tokyo, Feng announced on 2 February 2010 that he was going to enter Japan on the next day in anticipation of being allowed to return to Shanghai by mid February.
On 8 February 2010, Feng publicly announced his plan to return to Shanghai. On 12 February 2010, two days ahead of Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
, he successfully entered China after arriving on a flight from Narita to Shanghai. Afterwards, he stayed in his Shanghai apartment under guarded house arrest.
See also
- Chinese democracy movementChinese democracy movementThe Chinese democracy movement refers to a series of loosely organized political movements in the People's Republic of China against the continued one-party rule by the Communist Party. One such movement began during the Beijing Spring in 1978 and was taken up again in the Tiananmen Square...
- List of Chinese dissidents
- Mehran Karimi Nasseri
- Weiquan movementWeiquan movementThe Weiquan movement is a non-centralized group of lawyers, legal experts and intellectuals in the People's Republic of China who seek to protect and defend the civil rights of the citizenry through litigation and legal activism...
- Hiroshi NoharaHiroshi Noharais a Japanese traveler who lived for almost four months in Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport. He arrived at the Airport on September 2, 2008, and left on December 29, 2008 to live in a Mexico City apartment with a woman identified as Oyuki....
- Zahra KamalfarZahra KamalfarZahra Kamalfar is an Iranian refugee living in Canada. She was originally from the Muslim Dervish sect and her husband was executed in Iranian custody. After his death, she fled the country with her son Davood and daughter Ana. From Turkey, they fled into Russia. From Russia, the family planned...
- Sanjay ShahSanjay ShahSanjay Shah is a former Kenyan national. In 2004 he gave up his Kenyan passport and flew to the UK on a British Overseas citizen passport which permits temporary entry but not residence....
External links
Feng Zhenghu's website- Annuncement about fifth trial to go back to my motherland – English version of Feng's account of his fifth attempt to return to China